Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary called for President-elect Donald Trump to launch a “DEFCON One” trade war with China by implementing a staggering 400 percent tariff on Chinese imports, claiming it would force the country’s leadership to bow to U.S. demands to stop the fentanyl pipeline—or face domestic unrest.
Speaking on CNN’s NewsNight, the billionaire entrepreneur and investor debated Trump’s announcement of 25 percent trade tariffs on Canada, Mexico and 10 percent on China this week but raised concern among co-panelists as he pushed for more.
O’Leary began: “China is at the forefront of this fentanyl thing. And I think the real tariff war is not going to be on Mexico or Canada. It’s focused on a cheater, a liar, and a stealer since 1999 when they entered the WTO. This is a country, not the people, but the leadership, that just doesn’t want to play by the rules. And I live it in my businesses every day.”
“I would like to go to DEFCON One with China – tariffs 400 percent. I brought it up. Bring the supreme leader to Washington or crush his economy until he has riots in the streets for food,” he added.
Co-panelists pushed back, arguing that previous administrations had “strategies” for dealing with China, but O’Leary didn’t back down: “This is a time to really put the screws in.”
He continued: “What you have to do is target parts of their economy where there’s a lot of workers. Let’s just say, for an example, let’s say yoga mats. Let’s say we import a million yoga mats a month. All the yoga mat factories have 400 percent tariffs on yoga mats. They all get unemployed. They go to the streets, they scream at Supreme Leader, ‘I’m starving’ – riots. That’s when he wakes up and says, ‘Wow, I can’t sustain my supreme leadership.’
Economists remain skeptical of the idea of tariffs, warning of significant blowback for American consumers and raise costs for buyers in a way that clashes with Trump’s campaign promise to alleviate inflationary pressures on American households.
While high food prices have been a concern for voters, critics argue tariffs of this magnitude could exacerbate the issue.
Watch above on CNN.
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